DENVER  Freshman Rep. Mike McLachlan of Durango on Tuesday passed his first bill, a plan to make it easier to hire senior managers at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

The bill removes the requirement that the CBI director and senior deputies be certified Colorado peace officers through the Peace Officers Standards and Training board.

McLachlan, a Democrat, ran the bill on behalf of the CBI and with the support of law-enforcement groups. Current law prevents qualified candidates from getting top jobs at the CBI, he said.

We have excluded the opportunity for people within the CBI to apply for promotion, and we have discouraged  if not outright prohibited  out-of-state people for applying for these positions, McLachlan said.

McLachlan said the bill (House Bill 1076) was a noncontroversial, good-government bill, and he suspected the 41-22 vote had more to do with politics.

I think a portion of the minority of the House is going to resist any efforts by me and other (members in) close races to accomplish anything in the Legislature, he said.